Accentus, Concerto Koln/Laurence Equilbey, Naive V 5216 ***

This is a Christmas collection with a difference. It opens with a light-touch, period-instruments performance of Pachelbel's Canon and ends with a suave, multilingual arrangement of Silent Night. There's Handel's Hallelujah Chorusbut also Alleluiasby Buxtehude and Mozart, and an excerpt from Saint-Saëns's Christmas Oratorioas well as Bach's. There's even an Irish connection, through Trois anges sont venus ce soirby Augusta Holmès (1847-1903, whose parents were Irish) and an unusual reversal of normal procedures which sees Bizet's Farandolearranged for period instruments.

The vocal soloists are soprano Sandrine Piau, tenor Pavol Breslik, bass Johannes Weisser and contralto Nathalie Stutzmann, whose lugubrious performance of the Bach/Gounod Ave Mariasets the one sour note.

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